Hello FTC (from U.S.A.)

[Toaster]

Greetings all,

I saw a somewhat recent post by FTC_Dadnar on a IL2 Reddit about adding some more pilots to your squad. I'm a long time IL2 1946 simmer; I started around 2001 and flew IL2 exclusively for nearly 15 years, 90% multiplayer. I started off flying offline for a few years, then went through Vulture's Row virtual squadron's cadet program. Flew on the Zekes-vs-Wildcats F/R server for many years and participated in squad hosted multiplayer campaigns. When the mods came out for IL2 1946, it split the community and so as a avid modder (and creator), I started flying in the FS Skies of Valor (SOV) server to further develop my BFM skills (had limited icons that allowed more engagements).

However, I had some unexpected real-life events that caused me to stop flying in 2014. In 2020, I wanted to experience the new IL2 in all its 4k glory, however my PC was over 12 years old by that time and in desperate need of upgrading. I went ahead and purchased all of the IL2 GB games & DLCs to help support the franchise, and I tried running it on my old PC. But it just didn't work out. Around 2021, I was able to upgrade most of what I needed, but nobody told me that you couldn't buy a RTX-3080 GPU to save your life LOL.

I had spent almost 14 years optimizing my TM Cougar for IL2 1946 and I began the painful process of understanding all of the new key-bind controls for GB and getting my HOTAS controls re-mapped. A long story short, I am just now getting around to feeling comfortable flying IL2 GB and I would like to venture back out into the multiplayer world. Unfortunately, it appears I am late to the party! About ten years late LOL. I spent the last couple of years waiting for a large 4k gaming monitor to come to market and I finally found the perfect one for me in the Samsung Arc 55". In addition, I finally found a way to get my aircraft control curves like I had them before in 1946 (custom linear) as well as my preset view controls (logic in my Cougar).

During my time away from flying, I have been watching a lot of IL2 GB multiplayer YouTube videos. I stumbled across FTC_Sachel's channel and I noticed the disciplined team flying with Davviis? (C/O) and Marv (and others). This is how I enjoy flying also, using team tactics as I am more of an energy BnZ'er than a TnB'er. As I found out as a training officer in my last squadron, it's not always easy getting a lot of guys to fly as a unit, staying disciplined, and not go off doing their own thing during a fight. I had one particular wingman that unfortunately stopped flying that I absolutely loved flying with. We knew what each other were going to do without having to utter a word (e.g. drag-n-bag, defensive maneuvers, etc.)! It was glorious. My goal is to find another good wingman (or wingmen) and experience that again in IL2 GB.

So I am interested in learning more about FTC and possibly joining after some online communications, however that brings me to what might be a show stopper... I have a problem with Discord (i.e. who's funding it and surveillance/personal privacy concerns) and I will not be installing it on my new gaming rig. I have installed Teamspeak-3. I noticed that you may also have a TS server, but I didn't know if it was only used for campaign events. I really want to experience the IL2 multiplayer servers such as CombatBox and the Finnish server (and any others), however if FTC uses Discord while flying on these, then I guess that would be a deal-breaker unless you have some other pilots that feel like I do regarding Discord and have found a way to accommodate them.

Anyway, sorry for the long dissertation; From what I have seen on Youtube, FTC appears to be a great squadron. I will continue to enjoy Sachel's videos as it reminds me of my IL2 1946 days with my old squadron! If Teamspeak isn't a deal breaker, please let me know as I am really looking forward to flying online again.

P.S. If I don't end up getting to speak to anyone on Teamspeak, will someone please tell FTC_Satchel that I'm his biggest fan; I'm convinced his is Ray Romano from 'Everybody Loves Raymond' TV show. I didn't realize he was an avid IL2 pilot! I love his accent

~S~
Toaster

[Rostic]

Hi. Welcome to FTC.
I can't say that having a discord is 100% must have. But we use it a lot.
The mission briefings are published in PAM (Pilot and Mission web-page). Verbal briefing before mission going on in TeamSpeak. And it is 99% you need to get idea what to do in camapign mission.

But, you will not be able to see campaign mission briefing video stream with flight plans which is nice immersive part of our campaign. I do not know about all squadrons, but most of them use discord as main chat, place to share flight plans and other content. Discord is basically killed old school forums.

Well, just wait an recruiter to contact you here to sort out all the stuff.

[Toaster]

Ok thanks Rostic!

[Satchel]

Hello Toaster!!!

Welcome to FTC. Want to thank you for the kind words you expressed in your introduction about my videos. Everyone loves Raymond Thats a first for me. I’m an American but just sound funny I suppose.
We will have to figure out a way forward if you are dead set against Discord. It’s our primary way of communicating outside of flying. Especially for Sunday Briefs that really add to the immersion. When flying, we use TS for communicating. But for briefs and almost everything else, we use Discord. I personally don’t have the app installed on my PC but just use it in Chrome.
The recruiting team will discuss and will be in touch soon. Thanks for the awesome Intro and hopefully we can work something out.
Cheers,
Satchel

[Oakenhawk]

Just to echo Satchel here, we also coordinate ad-hoc training through discord, plus our regular training sessions outside of the campaign missions on Sundays. It's quite helpful to shoot up a signal flare when you're about to hop into the cockpit and pick up a wingman that way. I find that there's generally SOMEONE around that's monitoring discord but can't be bothered to be on TS perpetually. That's been a big part of the community for me.

[Spigot]

Hi Toaster, welcome!

As others have said, Discord is our main platform for communication day to day, and there are a lot of quality of life /immersion features of the group which occur on there.

Saying that though, our main voice Comms both in and out of campaign occur on TS. In terms of requirements to be a part of the group, the PAM mentioned before and TS will allow you to fly and write a report, which covers you to be a member. I would encourage you to try out, as I think we are up your street in terms of serious flying, tactics and teamwork. From there you can get a feeling for what you might miss and we can look at what, if anything, can be done to include you in some of the extra stuff.

I'll have one of our NA recruitment staff arrange with you to meet up and chat through, keep an eye for a PM on here.

Cheers,
Spigot

[Toaster]

Hello Toaster!!!

Welcome to FTC. Want to thank you for the kind words you expressed in your introduction about my videos. Everyone loves Raymond Thats a first for me. I’m an American but just sound funny I suppose.
We will have to figure out a way forward if you are dead set against Discord. It’s our primary way of communicating outside of flying. Especially for Sunday Briefs that really add to the immersion. When flying, we use TS for communicating. But for briefs and almost everything else, we use Discord. I personally don’t have the app installed on my PC but just use it in Chrome.
The recruiting team will discuss and will be in touch soon. Thanks for the awesome Intro and hopefully we can work something out.
Cheers,
Satchel

Thanks for replying Satchel! You don't sound funny at all! I am from KY, and I guess I'm just fond of the northern accent and I've always loved the Raymond character on the show. I work with a lady originally from up north and she is always saying "Fo-get-abou-dit"

Regarding your videos, I just wanted to add that I like the way you add text messages to give the viewer additional context. I created a couple of IL2 YouTube videos back in the day and I know that it takes extra time to do little things like that.

So there is a way you can use Discord without installing the software on your PC? I am not a Chrome (Google) fan either, but maybe there is a solution that would work for me.

~S~

[Satchel]

No worries. Glad u like the videos.
Yes you can use Discord without having the app installed. You can also have it on your phone since its a little more secure when i comes to apps. But you can use discord in any internet engine that you want. Internet explorer, Google chrome and Firefox. I personally hate the app because it doesn’t display everything as easily as the Internet page.
Try it out. Just type in discord into whatever search engine or internet browser you use. It should come up and then you can use it just like the app. The app offers other things like streaming and such but only a few people use it.
Discord is pretty important. But ya, see if u can use it without installing the app

[Rostic]

So there is a way you can use Discord without installing the software on your PC? I am not a Chrome (Google) fan either, but maybe there is a solution that would work for me.

My smartphone so old so app is crashing everytime and I switched to web-version and it works just fine. If you can use web-version on desktop or smartphone or tablet, then you'll get all content we provide.

[Toaster]

No worries. Glad u like the videos.
Yes you can use Discord without having the app installed. You can also have it on your phone since its a little more secure when i comes to apps. But you can use discord in any internet engine that you want. Internet explorer, Google chrome and Firefox. I personally hate the app because it doesn’t display everything as easily as the Internet page.
Try it out. Just type in discord into whatever search engine or internet browser you use. It should come up and then you can use it just like the app. The app offers other things like streaming and such but only a few people use it.
Discord is pretty important. But ya, see if u can use it without installing the app

Thanks, maybe there is a ray of hope after all! Are you required to have a Discord account to the web-server? I used to have it loaded on my old gaming rig, and I created an account but obviously haven’t logged into it for years. I do have Firefox also.

S!